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To paraphrase Forrest Church, who by the way, is a theist, death is the reason many of us try to live a life that will be worth dying for. Most atheists have come to terms with the near certainty that death is the recycling of the body and the recycling of The proud thoughts and the humble things that were important to the deceased.
In the extremely unlikely event that there is some continuity after death, it will be a natural result of being alive. The only possible scenario that I can conceive of is that the continuation, spirit if you will, will be able to interact with all the other deceased spirits that were important prior to death.
As noted the probability of this is so close to nil that I had better enjoy The proud thoughts and the humble things of the legacy of all that have preceded me and enabled the richness of my living. I devote most of my effort to contributing to and enriching that legacy, that those that follow me may have even more to work with and recycle."
The voice of World Control
1 day ago
3 comments:
This is the article I have passed on to hundreds of people over the years. It resonates with me:
http://www.elijahwald.com/origin.html
Thanks for posting the Wald article, it has been influential in my thinking about life and death as well.
The imminence of death, and the internalization of the near certainty that the few years we have alive are all we get makes our contribution to our legacy so critically important.
I for one want to leave more than just the $3 collection of chemicals in my body to the world, which means that I have to stay very involved in the world I live in, socially, intellectually, and emotionally, so that those who come after me will have a richer legacy to work with.
I feel sorry for those who have been sold the bill of goods of an afterlife who spend their lives chasing the stagnant legacy of an immortal, and therefore non-reproducing and unchangeable God. Religions remind me of that amoeba of Wald. It sits there, dividing endlessly filling its niche in the food chain, but contributing nothing but its food value to the world.
This is not to say that the intellectual, social and emotional food value of religion is negligable, it is just that the necessity for stability in the religious world makes an individual's opportunity to make a difference in the legacy almost non-existent.
I can't imagine spending, dare I say wasting these incredibly valuable years of life, contributing nothing of human value to my legacy, hoping that I will somehow be able to contribute more of the same nothing after death in "Heaven."
I will take the certainly of death any day. It makes each day an exciting new adventure in thinking, living and loving. I don't have many days left, and yes at my age we count days not years, especially as I think of Forrest Church whose days are in the hundreds rather than thousands, and the incredible drive it is providing him to complete his already towering legacy.
I am not too excited about dying, but it sure provides the incentive to be excited about each day I have left.
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